Troll Shamans
|upkeep_cost = |num_figures = |moves = |melee = |ranged = ( ) |defense = |resist = |hits = |abilities = Ranged Attack x4 Healer Purify Regeneration }} Troll Shamans are a type of Normal Unit that can be recruited in Troll Towns containing at least a Shrine. In addition to being the only non-ship Troll unit with a Ranged Attack, they also possess their Race's incredible physical strength, resilience, and regenerative abilities; and can become even stronger with . Troll Shamans are very expensive though, with a Construction Cost of ; and require an Upkeep Cost of and to maintain. Failure to pay these costs will result in the unit being disbanded automatically. Unit Properties Physical Description Troll Shamans are a group of tall, brutish humanoids. They have long, sharp noses, are covered in sickly-green skin, and wear nothing but tattered trousers. They hold short magical wands, which enable them to channel magical energy into useful application. Trolls are much stronger than other humanoids, and strange magic allows them to regrow lost limbs and even to re-coalesce after being completely dismembered! Troll Shamans are a , containing up to individuals. Attack Properties Characteristic to their Race, Troll Shamans are physically strong, and possess an initial Melee Strength of . This has an average "raw" output of - enough to punch through light armor, and occasionally injure even better protected opponents. The unit also gets better with , both in strength and accuracy. At the level, the maximum normally attainable, each Shaman's Melee Attack will deliver twice the starting amount - points of "raw" , on average. Troll Shamans can also perform up to 4 times per battle. While much weaker than their hand-to-hand strikes with a base Attack Strength of , these can be fired at any distance without incurring range penaties , and will deal an average of points of "raw" per Shaman. Although initially only threatening to low-tier enemies, this Attack Type also improves with . At the level, each Troll Shaman will do nearly three times this much with it - points of "raw" , on average. The magic of Troll Shamans is considered to come from the Realm, and this is what their Ranged Attacks are associated with. As such, they will trigger the conditional modifiers granted by the and spells, making them much less effective against targets bearing these Unit Enchantments. While they are not considered to be direct , and are not nullified outright by Magic Immunity, the ability's will nonetheless make any opponent possessing it virtually impossible to hurt with these attacks. Defensive Properties Troll Shamans have a Defense score of , which is roughly equivalent to light-medium armor. They can deflect about points from Conventional Damage attacks, on average - barely enough to avoid those of the lowest-tier Normal Units. However, not only does each Troll Shaman have an outstanding , they also possess Regeneration. This lets them regain at the end of every turn in battle, and can even revive slain mid-combat. In addition, this ability will also bring them back from the dead as long as they don't die to mostly Irreversible- or "Create Undead" - although this can only happen if their army wins the battle. Being magic-users of an already mystical Race, Troll Shamans also have an outstanding Resistance score of . While this is actually a point lower than what could be expected, it nonetheless makes them fairly difficult to afflict with Unit Curses and other combat maledictions, and they can still become virtually immune to some of these effects after gaining enough . Other Properties Troll Shamans move at a slow , and can only traverse land tiles. The unit has no special movement properties. It does however, possess the Healer and Purify abilities, both of which allow performing specialized functions on the overland map. The first trait recovers up to 20% of the total health of every unit on the Shamans' tile at the beginning of each game turn. Of course, they themselves, as well as most other Trolls, will never be affected by this, since their Regeneration almost completely prevents them from being injured overland, and will restore them fully even in the off-chance that they do suffer Damage Points. It may still be worth noting though that this healing is always rounded down, and as a result it also won't help any unit with an overall health pool lower than . Furthermore, the Healer ability does not stack, so each unit can only benefit from it once per turn. Therefore, having multiple Troll Shamans in a group will not accelerate the recovery of injuries any further. Unfortunately, there is also a bug associated with this ability in the latest official version of the game. Any unit that is healed by Troll Shamans that were created before the unit itself will effectively forego its natural healing for the turn. This is not intended however, and is corrected in the latest release candidates of the unofficial v1.51 patch. The other ability of Troll Shamans lets them remove Corruption from overland map tiles. Although not overly common, and typically limited to being used by Wizards, the effect of Corruption can be quite troublesome, as it negates all Town contribution from the tiles it appears on, including that of any Terrain Specials. To cleanse a tile, the Shamans must move onto it, and activate their ability using the "Purify" command at the bottom of the overland unit window - this also requires them to be selected and have Movement Allowance remaining. It takes 4 + 1 turns to remove Corruption from one map square, with the former number representing progress that can be shared among multiple units with the Purify ability. Basic Strategy Troll Shamans are a versatile support unit that can fill multiple roles both in- and outside of combat. Their Ranged Attacks, while not particularly powerful, are unique among their Race and, apart from ships, are the Trolls' only method of voluntarily attacking creatures. Unfortunately, Troll Shamans tend to be prohibitively expensive in the early game to create a fully ranged army out of, even though they only require a Shrine to train; and by the time resources become abundant enough, their Ranged Attack Strength may not be very effective against the opponents they encounter. This is partly due to their initial score being relatively low, but also because , in general, are extremely difficult to improve, with the only ways of doing so being gaining , or turning the Troll Shamans into Fantastic Units. and Wizards are at an advantage here, the former because of spells like and , which increase units' levels directly; and the latter because of , an Uncommon Spell that can turn the caster's own units into Undead, that can then benefit not only from the Unit Enchantment itself, but also the Common spell, and its overland counterparts. One of the main drawbacks of Undeath, the inability to heal, doesn't really affect Trolls because of their Regeneration, which will still work regardless. For the same reason though, Trolls generally don't have much use for their Shamans' Healer ability either. War Mammoths, the only non-regenerating unit of this Race, compare unfavorably to War Trolls exactly because of the lack of this trait. On the other hand, Troll Shamans can provide excellent support for mixed-, or mostly non-Troll armies. Unlike the Priests and Shamans of other Races, Troll Shamans are far from fragile, and in fact are very difficult to destroy in a way that they won't come back to life if their side wins the battle. As a result, they can be conveniently included in fighting stacks without having to worry too much about trying to protect them from spells and ranged enemies. This also allows them to gain combat , which in turn enables them to better pull their own weight during the battles. The third way to improve the Troll Shamans' Ranged Attacks is through . Except, while its effects can be very useful, this spell by itself does not increase Attack Strength - for that, the affected unit also needs to either be fighting in the vicinity of a , or come under the effect of the Very Rare Global Enchantment, which is unlikely to appear in play before the later stages of the campaign, making this a less reliable option. Compared to Undeath though, does have the advantage of the Troll Shamans still being able to slowly accumulate , at a rate of per turn, due to an inconsistency in the official game's handling of the two mechanics. It's also worth noting that both of the ways of turning them into Fantastic Units gives Troll Shamans a new vulnerability: it makes them susceptible to the , , and spells, along with Dispel Evil Touch Attacks. This is important because these all deal Irreversible Special Damage, which can not be regenerated during combat, and can ultimately cause the Troll Shamans to not be able to reform if destroyed, even when their army is victorious. While all of these effects are resistable, they also invariably apply penalties to the rolls - and typically high enough at that to be dangerous to transformed units even if they have a decent initial score. Finally, Troll Shamans may be necessary to recruit when going up against practitioners of magic, as Corruption can be a serious hindrance to the player's economy. Whether a single unit can handle the task of cleansing the neighbouring lands will of course depend on the frequency of the opponents using spells with this effect. While it may be tempting to create 4 Shamans to get the fastest Purify times, this is not always efficient, especially when one unit can cleanse a tile before another Corruption appears, or the entire group is even recruited. On the other hand, treasury allowing, having a dedicated full group can ensure that critical resources, such as Terrain Specials, are regained in the most timely manner possible. Ability Overview Ranged Attack x4 * This unit may use a instead of a Melee Attack up to 4 times in each battle. Once the unit's ammo is expended, it must resort to Melee Attacks. Regeneration * At the end of its combat round, this unit regains , unless it is already at full health, or all of its recorded is Irreversible. This effect can also restore lost . * If an army stack containing this unit wins a battle, the unit is restored to full health immediately at the end of the battle. This happens even if it was destroyed, although in this case, the regular suffered by the unit must surpass both any Irreversible-'' and any "Create Undead" , otherwise this effect will be disabled. * If the unit is killed in battle, and its army retreats or is defeated, the unit is destroyed and will not regenerate. Healer * At the beginning of each overland turn, every friendly unit that is on the same map tile as one with this ability is healed for up to 20% of its total , rounded down. * This ability has no effect on Undead and creatures. * Multiple instances of this ability are not cumulative. Purify * This unit can remove Corruption from overland map tiles. * To use this ability, the unit needs to be on a valid tile, be selected, and have Movement Allowance remaining. If all requirements are met, the "Purify" command becomes active in the ''unit window at the bottom right of the screen. * Cleansing a tile takes 4 + 1 game turns, with the first number representing progress that can be shared among multiple units with this ability - resulting in total times ranging from 2 turns with 4 units, to 5 with a single one. Experience Table The following table illustrates how Troll Shamans improve with Experience. Any properties that are not listed here are not affected by in any way. * To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the spell must be in play. ** To achieve this level, both Warlord and must be in play simultaneously. Average Damage Output The table below details the average amount of "raw" that each in a Troll Shamans unit will deliver with each type of attack, based on . It can be used in comparison to the target's Defense rating to approximate the chance of hurting that target. Acquisition Troll Shamans may be recruited in any Troll Town that has a Shrine already built. The Construction Cost of this unit is . Troll Shamans may also appear as Mercenaries, provided that the player has a presence on Myrror. In this case, they cost between to to hire per unit, based on their - or half that much for Charismatic Wizards. Category:Units Category:Normal Units Category:Trolls Category:Shamans